There might have been snow on Monday but the sun was shining & the waves were crashing in our classroom. Boogie boards, beach chairs, beach towels, sunglasses, bathing suits, pails, shovels & sand toys galore could be found strewn around our classroom.

We ate sand for snack (ask us about the ingredients), created beautiful beach scenes with shells & sea creatures, used magnifying glasses to explore sea shells & sand, manipulated sand play dough & played at the water & sand tables. We even practiced some beach yoga along with surfing moves & danced to the music of The Beach Boys. The older children practiced writing beach words from one of the books we read, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell.

Books We Read: Shells! Shells! Shells! (Nancy Elizabeth Wallace), There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell (Lucille Colandro) & Commotion in the Ocean (Giles Andreae)Obviously, beach week was a huge success & tons of fun! Now we're looking forward to some real beach weather!Looking Ahead

Creative Kids has the opportunity to participate in the Holbrook Chamber of Commerce Memorial Day Parade which will be held on Monday, May 30, 2016 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon.

The parade will assemble at 10:30 a.m. at the Holbrook Plaza on Main Street & will march south along Main Street to the corner of Furrows Road, west on Furrows Road to Grundy Avenue, & then south on Grundy Avenue to the Holbrook Vietnam Monument on the corner of Grundy & Terry Road where there will be a brief remembrance ceremony. The parade is approximately 1.15 miles & takes approximately 25-30 minutes. The ceremony begins at approximately 11:30 a.m.

Families are encouraged to march with their children. If you plan on participating, please return the form being sent home as soon as possible. We will try to order shirts for everyone who is marching so be sure to indicate the size needed on the form.

Reminder:

School is closed for Easter break on 3/24, 3/25 & 3/28.

Have a wonderful break & Happy Easter to all of our families who celebrate!

Green was our theme during this third week of March. We did the Shamrock Pokey & sang some festive songs such as G-R-E-E-N & The Leprechaun Song. We played a game by picking a shamrock from the pot of gold & following the directions on the shamrock.

After reading Little Blue & Little Yellow (Leo Lionni) we painted with blue & yellow at the easel. Ask me what color we made. After our paintings dried, we decorated them with gold glitter. We usedgreen pencils & green crayons all week for drawing & writing. We also used green shamrock-shaped cookie cutters to make shapes from green play dough.

On St. Patrick's Day, we read Green Eggs and Ham (Dr. Seuss) and made actual green eggs & ham to eat along with some green grapes. Before we ate we guessed whether or not we would like the green eggs & ham. Then after we ate we charted whether or not we actually liked them.

And the results are in:

Morning Class:

Afternoon Class:

Books We Read: Little Blue & Little Yellow (Leo Lionni),There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover (Lucille Colandro), The Night Before St. Patrick's Day (Natasha Wing), Green Eggs & Ham (Dr. Seuss), The Littlest Leprechaun (Justine Fontes).​Happy 4th Birthday to Victor! We celebrated his birthday on Tuesday morning with delicious green cupcakes. Thank you to Victor's mom for bringing in those yummy cupcakes. Victor chose to read Ladybug's Birthday (Steve Metzger).

Looking Ahead​Creative Kids has the opportunity to participate in the Holbrook Chamber of Commerce Memorial Day Parade which will be held on Monday, May 30, 2016 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon.

The parade will assemble at 10:30 a.m. at the Holbrook Plaza on Main Street & will march south along Main Street to the corner of Furrows Road, west on Furrows Road to Grundy Avenue, & then south on Grundy Avenue to the Holbrook Vietnam Monument on the corner of Grundy & Terry Road where there will be a brief remembrance ceremony. The parade is approximately 1.15 miles & takes approximately 25-30 minutes. The ceremony begins at approximately 11:30 a.m.

Families are encouraged to march with their children. If you plan on participating, please return the form being sent home as soon as possible. Shirts will be ordered for everyone who is marching so be sure to indicate the size needed on the form.

Reminder:

Next week is beach week! Send in those beach towels, pails, shovels & any other beach toys you can think of. Please make sure everything is labeled if you want them returned. School is closed for Easter break on Thursday, 3/24; Friday, 3/25 & Monday, 3/28.

Although not here quite yet, spring is certainly in the air. Spring brings with it all the beautiful colors of nature which resulted in a discussion about rainbows. Our language chart question this week was What is a Rainbow?.

We created racing rainbow pictures by painting with cars. Yes, we rolled the wheels of cars through paint & then rolled them on the paper. The children had a blast producing their own works of art this way. Some of the children decided to decorate their paintings with rainbow-colored buttons. We also made rainbows with pipe cleaners and play dough, then drew pictures of our masterpieces.

During circle on Wednesday morning Brianna & Sydney were discussing the size of their feet. We took this one step further by measuring everyone's feet. Everyone had one foot traced. We used a tape measure to record how many inches long each foot was. The kids thought this was hilarious. Then they took turns with a tape measure to measure various items in the room, “jotting down” their findings on a clipboard.

Happy 4th Birthday to Mia! We celebrated her birthday on Tuesday afternoon with delicious cupcakes. Mia's mom joined us for the celebration. Thank you to Angela for bringing in those yummy cupcakes. Mia chose to read The Secret Birthday Message (Eric Carle).

Registration forms for summer camp 2016 & the 2016-2017 school year have been coming in quickly. Please note that your spot is not reserved until we receive the registration & June 2017 payment. The morning session is filling up quickly. As a reminder, classes will be capped at 12 students per session. For our 4 year olds who are UPK eligible, the registration fee & June 2017 payment will be returned if your child is accepted into your school district UPK program. September 2016 tuition is due on the first day of school.

Looking Ahead

When you can't go to the beach, you bring the beach to you! Beach Week is coming to Creative Kids the week of 3/21! This is the week the children have been waiting for! Send in those beach towels, pails, shovels & any other beach toys you can think of. Please make sure everything is labeled if you want them returned.

We ended the month of February with some interesting conversation. Our morning class was discussing all of their boo-boos during circle when one of our children told us about a bee sting. The children all chimed in about their bee stings and began asking questions. This led us to create a language chart about what we know about bees. Then after reading the book Bees by Melvin Berger we created another chart about what we learned about bees. This is what I love about emergent curriculum & following the child's interests. You never know what each day will bring!

We also read an excerpt from the book Wintertime (Ann Schweininger). The excerpt was a poem entitled March to welcome in our new month. Since we are getting ready for our beach party we read the book Ocean Creatures (Scholastic) which contained beautiful photos of all types of creatures found in the ocean. Circle time was spent counting the days on the calendar, talking about the weather as well as counting our friends. We made some interesting creations during table top with play dough, shells and small log pieces. Thank you to Allison's grandma for donating lots of shells for our beach theme.

Happy 4th Birthday to Jacob who shares his birthday with Dr. Seuss! Jacob's mom & grandma came in to celebrate with us. Thank you to Jacob's mom who brought in delicious dinosaur cupcakes for us. And speaking of Dr. Seuss, we read The Cat in the Hat on Dr. Seuss' birthday & Jacob chose to read the book, The Secret Birthday Message (Eric Carle) for his birthday book.

Registration forms for summer camp 2016 & the 2016-2017 school year were sent home this week. We have been receiving them back quickly. Please note that your spot is not reserved until we receive the registration & June 2017 payment. The morning session is filling up quickly. As a reminder, classes will be capped at 12 students per session so please send in your completed forms with the registration fee & June 2017 payment as soon as possible. Once we reach 12 students on any given day, a waiting list will be available. For our 4 year olds who are UPK eligible, the registration fee & June 2017 payment will be returned if your child is accepted into your school district UPK program. September 2016 tuition is due on the first day of school. Sachem BOE approved the school calendar for 2016-2017. School will begin on 9/6/16.

Looking Ahead

The Week of the Young Child (WOYC) is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). This year it takes place Apri1 10-16. The purpose of the WOYC is to focus public attention on the needs of young children & their families & recognize the early childhood programs & services that meet those needs at the local, state, & federal levels. The WOYC is a time to plan how we - as citizens of a community, state, & nation - will better meet the needs of all young children & their families. We are planning some fun school events for that week so stay tuned for more info.

GREEN day is coming (no, not the band). Dress in a festive green on March 17, 2016.

Reminder: Our next pizza & p.j. night is 3/11/16, 6:30-9:30. $10 per child for the evening & includes, pizza, drinks, snack, open play & video. Take advantage of some free time for yourself on a Friday night!​Have a great weekend!Ms. Sheri, Ms. Joyce, Ms. Sarah,Miss Fabi & Miss Bethany